Reciprocating water-motor.



J. B. FLETCHER. RECIPROGATING WATER MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED N0v.29,1912.

1,118,852, A Patented N0v.24,1914.

JOHN B. FLETCHER, 0F NEWPORT. KENTUCKY.

RECIIROCATIN G WATER-MOTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 24, 1914.

'Application filed Novem-ber 29, 1912. Serial No. 734,115.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. Fir/renna, a citizen of the 'United' States,residing Aat Newport, inthe county of Campbell and State ofKentucky,^liave invented certain new and useful Improvements -inReciprocating Water-Motors, of whichthe following is a specification. f

My invention relates to an improved water motor. l i c One of theobjects of the invention is to produce af-very simple, cheap and durabletyipe -of a reciprocating Water motor ofthe general character commonlyused -for energizing a Washing machine. t

Another object 'of the Ainvention is to rovide an improved mechanismstiofr unseating, shitting and reseating `the valves.

v'Ilhe specific character ofthe improvement will be inted `out inconnection lwith the description of thelaccompanying drawings, forming apart' of this specicatlon, in whichz Figure 1 is a central verticallongitudinal section through the motor. Fig. '2 is a yiew,

partly in section, showing one end of the motor with thepiston andvalves and valve actuating spring, shown in 4their relative positionsfor operation. Fig. 3 is a s ection on line -w Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is asection on liney-ly'fig. 1. f

The motor comprises the hollow cylinder 1, with the-inclosng heads 2.

` 3 represents the piston formed with zthe non-communicating supplychamber-'4 and exhaust chamber 5. The right Ihand face of the -pistonjis connected to the piston rod 6, passing through the head 2 andstartlingL box7. The left hand faceof the pistonfis connected to ftheparallel hollow supply and exhaust rods. 8, 9, which pass vthrough thelethand Lhead 2, `and a suitable stuing-box, it being understood thatAthese ihollow rods during their reciprocation telescopicallyeingaJge-tlie'initial water supply-and exhaust Pipes..

1-1" represents a double inlet or supply valve in the supply pistonchamberlndap'ted to alternately engage Ytheseats 12,113, of the inletports; the stem 't4-'oi said valve passes through the opposite walls ofthe piston and on its 'outerendsthere are formed the stub stems 15, 15.

16 represents the stem ofthe exhaust valve in chamber 5, carrying theexhaust valve heads 17 disposed upon the outer faces of the piston inposition to cooperate with the piston exhaust valve seats 18, 19, of theoutlet ports, the stub stems 20, 20', projecting outwardly lbeyond saidheads. 1

21 represents a plate or valve stem connector looscl4 mounted on piston-rod-6, having yoke en s 22 loosely engaging the stub stems 15, 20. L

23 represents a plate or valve stem connector loosely mounted on thehollow rods 8, 9, and having the yoke ends 24 loosely engaging the stu-bstems l5', 20.

.-25 represents la cylindrical coil spring loosely mounted on the pistonrod 6 and. positioned between the plate 21 and the right hand cylinderhead. On each of the hollow rods 8, 9, is loosely mounted a cylindricalcoil spring 26 positioned between the 'plate 23 and left hand cylinderhead. It is the essential function of these springs to unseat, shift andresent 4the `valves and to insure this end, the cylinder. heads arepreferably formed on their inner faces with fthe' pocket 27, into whichthe springs are solidly compressed, and the pockets 28, formingclearance spaces, to prevent the valve stems from contacting thecylinder ,head at the times the springs are solidly compressed. Tliefloose connection between said platesand the stub stem produces a noveland useful function in the valve actuation which will be obvious fromthe disclosure of the operation.

Assumin the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1, -t e Water will belowinginto the supply chamber 4, from lthe left hand end', and the waterwill be exhausting cutofothe right hand end of the cylinder, through thechamber 5, the piston moving toward the right hand end of the cylinder'.The spring 25 will-be moved by -a -plate 21, inte the pocket 27, andsolidly compressed, as shown in Fig.V 2, at which time there is an apreciable' clearance space between the 'ends of the valve stems and theright hand cylinder head.` i

The further urgence ofthe piston will unseat the valves and the reactionof bhe 'spring will shift the valves toward their opposite seats, 'thevalves moving as a unit during thiswunseating and shifting because oflthe plate connection, but in the reseating of 'the valves', the looseconnection between the stub stems and plate becomes effective andenables a slight independent movement of the supply and exhaust valves,whereby they are independently reseated, whereupon the valves beingreversed, reversed, and the piston the water dow is moves to the letthand end of the cylinder, where this action is repeated when the springs26 become solidly compressed.

It has been found from experience that where the valves are rigidlyconnected the motor is practically inoperative for copimercial usage,because it has been found almost impossible to properly reseat thevalves when they are entirely unitary in movement, and this diiicultybecomes enhanced with the slightest wear of the' valves or their seats.

With my improvement the valves move as a unit in their unseating andshifting operations, but have suflcient independent movement throughtheir connecting medium to enable them to independently assume theirreseating or final movements.

lBy reason of this improvement a very simple and cheap motor isproduced, without any rigid contact of the valve stems against thecylinder heads. rllhe operationy of the motor is eiiicient andinvariable, while at the same time a more durable motor is produced, asthe valve final movements auto-- matically accommodate themselves to theslight wear of the parts inherent in a continuous usage to which a motorof this character is subjected.

lt will further be noted 'that the plates have no rigid or bindingconnection at any point with the valve stub stems in a plane transverseto the longitudinal line of the valve movements. It results from thisconstruction that the valves may be characterized as floating within thelimitations of the plate connections. That is, they are free to rotateon their axes or to move slightly in vertical plane. Therefore, thereare no fixed or definite guides for concentrically alining the valveheads relative to their seats, but they automatically find their seatsaccurately and invariably under the influence of the water pressures andflows as they are moved longitudinally under the spring inuence, and theprecision and reliability of the valve seating operations is notdependent upon concentric guides, which are never unitarily accurate andwhich impair the emclency of valve seating whenever the inevitable wearof parts occurs.

Having described my invention, ll claim l. lin a reciprocating watermotor, a cylinder, inclosing heads, a -piston comprising non-counicatingsupply and exhaust chambers, hollow piston rods therefor, a

Adouble inlet valve in the supply chamber, a

misera double exhaust valve in the exhaust chamber, connectors on thepiston rods loosely uniting said valve stems, causing the valves to moveunitarily in unseating and shifting operations and independently invalve seating operations, and cylindrical coiled springs operativelypositioned between said connectors and cylinder heads, said springshaving a tension always less than the force required to unseat thevalves, whereby they compile coil on coil forming a rigid abutment forunseating the valves.

2. lln a reciprocating water motor, a cylinder, inclosing heads, apiston comprising non-communicating supply and exhaust chambers, hollowpiston rods therefor, a.

double inlet valve in the supply chamber, a double exhaust valve in theexhaust chamber, connectors on the piston rods loosely uniting the valvestems, causing them to move unitarily in unseating and shiftingoperations and enabling them to move independently in the inal r seatingoperations, said loose connections providing floating valves movablelongitudinally with and relative to the connectors, and cylindricalcoiled springs positioned between said plates and heads said springshaving a tension always less t an the force required to unseat thevalves, whereby they compile coil' oncoil forming a rigid' abutment torunseatmg the valves.

3. lln a reciprocating water motor, a cylinder, inclosing heads, apiston comprising non-communicating supply and exhaust chambers, hollowpiston rods therefor, a double inlet valve in the supply chamber, adouble exhaust valve in the exhaust chamber, said valves having stemprojections b eyond the piston faces, means connecting said stemprojections upon each side et the piston, said means being adapted tomove unitarily with the valves and being adapted to ermit movements ofthe valves relative to said connecting means, and cylindrical coilsprings on the piston rods between said valve connecting means and thecylinder heads, said springs having a tension always less than the forcerequire to unseat the valves, whereby they compile coil o n coil forming,a rigid abutment for unseating the valveso lin testimony whereof, lhave hereunto set my hand.

. lOl-DT B. FLETCHER..

Witnesses: y A @tryna B. Karene, lil.. E. Woon.

enabling them to move

